Dakini's Whisper Monthly Journal - August 2022

DAKINI

Devotion and Blessings

"Like the sky, without hopes and fears,

Relax without indulging hopes and fears.

Like the sky, without clinging to self,

Do not cling to a self; give up attachment."

 

- In Praise of Machik's Perfection of the Six Paramitas

(Excerpt from "Scattered Teachings")

(the picture above is from Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod by Jerome Edou)

 

"Imagine the great masters of the Ear-Whispered Lineage (nyen-gyu in Tib.) with their deep longing for awakening and their overwhelming compassion for others in the world of suffering, roaming across thousands of miles of the vast plains and under the boundless blue sky of Tibet and Inner Mongolia to practice and retrieve the transmission of the Cho oral lineage in order to keep it alive.

 

My teacher told me a story once about his teacher, Lhatsun Rinpoche. When the transmission of this Ear-Whispered Lineage of Dakini was about to be lost, he made a similar trek from Central Tibet to Inner Mongolia to recover or revitalize the transmission. We know from the stories of these ancient masters that on their journeys, they were constantly guided, trained, challenged, nurtured, sustained and entertained by an awakened embodiment called Dakini.”

 

- From the manuscript of “DAKINI JOURNEY'' by Choying Khandro

INTRODUCTION

 

As DW students embark on A Deep Dive into the Heart of the Dakini, we dedicate this August Journal to DAKINI – Devotion and Blessings. What role do devotion and blessings play on our journey with Dakinis?

 

Khandro-la often talks about devotion as essential to encountering the Dakini. Is it our longing for this encounter that arouses our devotion? Is it our joyful devotion that calls the Dakini to “constantly guide, train, challenge, nurture, sustain and entertain” us, the same as she did our ancient masters?

The blessings and treasures of our lineage masters are the same as ours. With pure devotion, we can meet the “awakened embodiment called Dakini.” Then our hearts will crack open and we will experience her ultimate blessing. We will see the Dakini face-to-face and know that, as Khandro-la says, “she is nothing but our own mind.”

 

With deep appreciation for the kindness of our teacher, Khandro-la, we offer this Journal as a loving and passionate witness of devotion and blessings to Dakini!

 

- Ellen (Yeshe Wagmo), DW Team

KHANDRO-LA'S CORNER

Devotion & Emotion In Dakini Prayers

Some of you may think that prayer is not that important in tantric practice – we are advanced practitioners, after all. No, the opposite is true. We are advanced practitioners; therefore, we need prayer. We need to let go of this small sense of self, the small island of self, and dive into the vast ocean of divine presence, Dakini. 

 

Why is it so important to make a prayer, praise and connect to the divine presence? I want you to taste the power of this devotion. That requires humility, trust, courage, and surrendering.  Devotion and prayers help us develop the capacity to surrender, to trust and to have the courage and confidence in one’s own true nature.

 

So, we use a lot of emotion and feeling, whatever comes up. It might not feel easy – tears may come up, maybe your heart starts beating fast, and you can’t help recalling some event from the past.  Use that. We use everything in tantra as the path, part of our growth, and nourishment. Then we transform it to one-pointed attention and look through that at the wisdom. 

 

Often devotional prayers are chanted with the lineage melody which came from awakened minds. That brings us to connect to our subtle body. These devotional songs stir us up; they resonate and move deep inside of us. This is the power of devotion and emotion. Then, the Dakini, outer, inner and secret, responds to your devotion while your heart touches her.

 

This Youtube video of Khandro-la’s rich teaching on Vows will inspire your heart!

Explore Youtube >>

DAKINI CORNER BLOG

ASK KHANDRO-LA

[Student:] Since I have been on this ancient Ear-Whispered journey, at some of the most heart-wrenching moments in my life, when I least expect it, I have felt this opening in my heart that is beyond words, really.  Could this be a “Dakini moment?” Is this a gift, a blessing of Dakini? 

 

[Khandro-la:] Yes, actually compassion is the natural expression of realization. If we find that there is no room for judgment because our innate nature is compassion; the veil is dropped. We are the naked Dakini! Then true compassion arises. We have to bring this to our level, to our daily lives and get a glimpse of how this feels. How does this come together in our lives?

 

[Student:]  I feel very moved journeying with the Dakinis - movement and exhaustion of desire, the deep rest in clear light, and also the bliss and emptiness. I feel a flavor of strength, power, and longing. I just feel my heart and this quality of vastness and openness. Is this what you call “devotion?”

 

[Khandro-la:] I have talked about causes and conditions, material causes and then conditions. This longing is a condition. Whatever way you experience this devotion, maybe with warmth, softness, or the tenderness of your heart, that becomes the condition for the material cause, the seed of Buddha nature, to ripen, manifest, and move into the resultant state of awakening.  So you honor that.

Dakini's Corner Blog >>

DW STUDENTS’ REFLECTIONS

What has attracted me to Dakini?

What do the "devotion and blessings" of Dakinis

mean to me on my spiritual journey?

I Fell in Love

I met and fell in love with the Dakini discovering images on the walls of gompas and monasteries in Nepal and Ladakh about 5yrs ago. Suddenly, inexplicably I ‘saw’ them where I had not seen them before. Like a flash of lightning, something in me responded. Who were these strange beings? My curiosity opened a door to the dharma and my heart teacher Khandro –La. Dakini for me is a messenger who assists in guiding me to the truth of what I am and what we are. Her method can be mischievous as She slips in through the cracks of my habitual thinking and behavior patterns. She is a disruptor, an agent of transformation as well as a salve and protector.

 

I am learning to experience Dakini as multifarious in form and energy and all-pervading – a quintessence - that is hard to describe with language. I know She is always present yet I can glimpse her only when I drop enough of my conditioned perception to see and feel her quickening and peaceful energies embody me. This happened in a big way when I experienced a major personal loss and trauma. Then, unfathomably arose aliveness and joy – my heart became lit through her presence.

 

Dakini has been my greatest ally on my path to self-realization. She seems like magic, an illusion, yet she exists everywhere. I love her and my trust in her grows as I nurture our relationship in my practice and realize her in all forms and formlessness. She is here to benefit all beings with all her activities. Dakini is no doubt the greatest blessing of my life. Her essence is me and you and everything.

 

- Shona W (Drime Osel Lhamo) with the Artwork below

A Blessed Life Living with Devoted Dakini's

Starting the week with a blank mind, more questions than answers appeared. First, what do I even understand a Dakini to be? What is my relationship to Dakini as I question my understanding of what I even believe a Dakini to be?

 

Expressing what I feel is a challenge to put into words. So much confusion in my intellect, so much my head hurts thinking about it. I even looked up what the Tibetan definition of a Dakini is as this question in truth has reflected to me that I don't really know..... then I realized I have been Blessed to Live Every Moment of Life with the Support and Guidance of Devoted Dakini Walking With Me, Flowing through me on this Path of Spiritual Progression. Putting a Tibetan name to that which has always been, then struggling in the fact that I have other names for Dakini from studying with Native American Culture Lineage and now calling them something else because I am learning through Tibetan Cultural Lineage. My intellect struggles with this.

 

As I reread a verse I wrote after the Refuge vows, I realized I take Refuge Every moment of my waking and sleeping life with the Dakini's, and I feel so blessed. Dakini, the 'SkyDancers' Living in Emptiness. Everything comes from Emptiness, Everything Returns to Emptiness.

 

Much Gratitude to you Kandro-La, I am Blessed to have you in my daily life as a Devoted Physical Manifestation in Human Form as a Dakini. A Dakini who is a Passionately Powerforce Flowing in 'The River' guiding and supporting in an infinitely compassionate and wrathful way.

 

I still have much to learn about the Dakinis and look forward to this journey, there are so many layers to them.

 

- Deidre M.

I found her! Ratna Dakini!

The photo of this yellow cat is a stray who has been coming for food since last Winter.

 

One night when I went outside to feed her, I found myself calling out, “Ratna Dakini!” I was practicing Five Dakinis that day. I don’t know how much she really is Ratna Dakini, but it doesn’t matter! I feel the connections, I feel the blessings, I feel the warmth. And I am happy that I see the embodiment of Dakini's Buddha-nature in a stray cat. So I took this picture to capture that moment of my little realization.

- Louise L.

 

Unconditional Devotion

Here I am in this precious human life, supported by Buddha land beings, the Dakini - these feminine energies and expressions of the great Mother herself. I look out to life around me and see the symptoms of their actions: from the warmth of the fire that heats my body in our winter months; the Sunlight that dances within the twinkling of a frozen dewdrop; the enthusiasm I hear in my son’s voice as he talks about his dreams; to the feelings of passion that arise as I contemplate the stunning Dakini that life has allowed me to partner with. Padma leaves her blessings in this life’s experience everywhere I look, in the external, inner and secret places of my being’s experience. Each of the Dakinis has her story as told by the tracks they leave, in this life that is. Each element, attitude, and feeling is an expression of awakened activity. I live the blessings expressed moment by beautiful moment. I feel the devotion that flows as I welcome these beings into my life. Recognizing their tireless workings is all that is needed. From the furthest point of the universe to the innermost sense of self, all of this life is the blessing of Dakini’s. Whether good, bad, ugly, or indifferent, I am their undying Devotee.

 

- Osel Drubpey Dorje

Dakini Blessing of Spiritual Realization

I think what first intrigued me about Dakinis was the implication that they have a tangible presence in this world. Rather than just being visualized, or worshiped at a distance, these are beings that, as a result of our tantric practice, will come to bestow blessings and help us to achieve spiritual realizations more quickly. Ever since hearing that I was very motivated to please the Dakinis and receive their blessing. 

 

To me, Dakini is the embodiment of the feminine aspect of wisdom. They resist being rigidly defined or classified, which can be frustrating to the logical Western mind. But if we are able to let go of this need to feel in control they can guide us intuitively towards seeing our true nature.  

 

- John W.

ANCIENT SAGE, ANCIENT WISDOM

Machik Labdron (1055-1149)

I’ve been asked to write a few paragraphs about Machik Labdron, whom I feel to be one of the most significant figures in Tibetan Buddhism. And as I struggle to put words to paper (they all sound so contrived!) I think, what would she like us to hear, now? Her Dharma system, this practice of Cho, is for these difficult and discursive times we find ourselves in. The Pandemic, economic chaos, quarantines, vaccines, food shortages and so forth.... this is what her teachings are for! All of it .... Pe! All of the fear fueled by my own discursive conceptuality and attachment... Pe! “When there is no obscuration of mind there is no fear!” When we cut through all that (and more), swiftly and decisively, the fear subsides and is replaced with a sense of pervasive peace…. "Ahhh."

 

Since Covid was first reported in the news (2.5 yrs ago?) at every turn I see a new horrible thing showing up in the news. And as I watch my mind follow it all, uncontrolled, wild in its reactive emotions, I say “Pe!” and cut through the loud chatter of my mind. My mind is creating these demons that I suffer. “Pe”... then I look to the lineage masters, those who have faced equally challenging times and situations; and to Machik Labdron, who is more than deserving of our devotion! Her Dharma system provides the tools and mind training practices that are needed for today, for these degenerate times. I feel very fortunate indeed to have found these teachings in this life. And with all my heart “Machik Chenho”, may my practice of Cho bring benefit, even if it is only a mere echo of what she herself practiced. May it bring benefit to all beings!

 

Love and light, 

Joy W. 

 

This mind of ours is empty and clear like the depth of space.

Relax in that natural state, free of fabrication.

When mind is without any support, that is Mahamudra.

Becoming familiar with this, blend your mind with it -

This is Buddhahood

- From Machik's Last Instructions

WHAT'S NEW?

(Artwork above by Rima Fujita)

 

Glimpse the Rich Resources in Dakini's Whisper!

LEARN AND MEDITATE WITH KHANDRO-LA!

Introducing a new and compelling webpage on our website.

Please take a look here!

NEW SUBTLE BODY TRAINING

DAKINI SERIES VII

 DAKINI’S TWILIGHT LANGUAGE

Unlocking the Dakini Subtle Body

Online

5 Saturdays, September 3 – October 1, 2022

4 - 5:30 pm, Pacific Time 

OPEN TO ALL WHO REGISTER

"The twilight language" is a secret language, 

great convention of the Dakinis, 

which the shravakas and others cannot unriddle."

- Hevajra Tantra

 

JOIN Khandro-la and fellow Pilgrims as we delve into this intriguing "great convention of Dakinis!" Through subtle body movement and exercises based on traditional and contemporary approaches, we will explore this compelling secret of Dakini, Twilight Language, and discover ways to bring their awakened secrets into our own lives as expressions of wisdom and compassion. We invite you to join us for this unique and potent experience of Dakinis. 

 

For more information and to register, go to our website here.

NEW DAKINI JOURNEY

Starting in September!

For more information, please visit here.

BODHICITTA DAY!

Traveling from a City of Joy to a City of Joy!

Monday, September 26, 4:00 – 5:00 pm

OPEN TO ALL

All are invited to join us on this Bodhicitta Day as we gather to celebrate the infinite potentiality of a heart wide open. With teachings and practices of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara and tonglen, Khandro-la will guide us directly into the ultimate practice of generosity and liberation for all beings.

 

This being the anniversary of Khandro-la’s dear son, Mani, she devotes especially this day to bodhicitta and shares the teachings on bodhicitta with us! We join Khandro-la and our fellow travelers with big hearts to travel from the City of Joy to the City of Joy!

 

The Zoom link will be https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83228307087

TROMA NAKMO PRACTICE WITH KHANDRO-LA!

Thursday, September 8, 4 - 5:30 pm, Pacific Time

 

CHO PRACTICE and CHARNEL GROUND DIALOGUE WITH KHANDRO-LA!

Thursday, September 22, 4 - 5 pm (practice), 5 - 5:30 pm (dialogue)

Khandro-la will guide students in Troma Nakmo and Cho Dentok Chikma Practice according to the Ear-Whispered Lineage (OPEN TO THOSE WITH TRANSMISSION). For more information, visit our DW website or contact dakiniswhisperteam@gmail.com. The Charnel ground dialogue (OPEN TO ALL) will follow the Cho practice on September 22.

 

The Zoom link will be https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88538519556.

WEEKLY GROUP PRACTICE OPPORTUNITIES

Golden Tea Offering to Palden Lhamo and Vajrayogini 

OPEN TO ALL With Transmissions

Every Monday, 4:30 - 5:30 pm, Pacific Time

During this time, the Golden Tea Offering for Palden Lhamo According to the Ear-Whispered Lineage or the Golden Tea Offering for Vajrayogini will be practiced. This will be indicated on the DW Calendar and open to all who have received the transmission for the Tea Offering being practiced each week.

 

The Zoom link will be https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88538519556.

MONTHLY GROUP PRACTICE/BOOK DISCUSSION OPPORTUNITIES

Dakini Book Discussion, Mahamudra, Cho and Vajrayogini

OPEN TO ALL for Book Discussion

OPEN TO ALL DW MEMBERS for Practices!

JOIN your fellow DW yogis and yoginis for monthly student-hosted group Dakini Discussion and practices! These regularly scheduled (same day/time each month) will offer more opportunities to practice Mahamudra, Cho and Vajrayogini and deepen our learning on Dakini together!

 

1st Sunday of each month, 1:30-2:30 noon - Dakini Book Discussion with Elizabeth

 

The Zoom link for these practices will be https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83228307087. 

 

1st Sunday of each month, 12:15-1:15 pm - Ganden Cho Practice with Dan 

2nd Sunday of each month, 12noon-1 pm - VY Sadhana with Peter

3rd Tuesday of each month, 3:30-4:15 pm - Mahamudra Practice with Ellen

 

The Zoom link for these practices will be https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88538519556. As always, the times below are Pacific Time.

Detailed information about all upcoming offerings can be found on the webpage (upcoming online teaching and practice opportunities). You can access the DW calendar from the website as well or DW members can check their personal version of the DW Google calendar. Please note that all times listed there are Pacific Time.

 

If you have further questions, please contact Ellen (dakiniswhisperteam@gmail.com).

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